Ezekiel 36:34 (KJV)

Passage

And the desolate land shall be tilled, whereas it lay desolate in the sight of all that passed by.

Nearby Context

Ezekiel 36:32 Not for your sakes do I this, saith the Lord GOD, be it known unto you: be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel.

Ezekiel 36:33 Thus saith the Lord GOD; In the day that I shall have cleansed you from all your iniquities I will also cause you to dwell in the cities, and the wastes shall be builded.

Ezekiel 36:34 And the desolate land shall be tilled, whereas it lay desolate in the sight of all that passed by.

Ezekiel 36:35 And they shall say, This land that was desolate is become like the garden of Eden; and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are become fenced, and are inhabited.

Ezekiel 36:36 Then the heathen that are left round about you shall know that I the LORD build the ruined places, and plant that that was desolate: I the LORD have spoken it, and I will do it.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "desolate", "land", "shall", "tilled", "whereas", "sight", and "passed". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "desolate" and "land", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 33's "Thus saith the Lord GOD In the..." into verse 35's "And they shall say This land that...", so "desolate" and "land" belong inside that flow. In Ezekiel context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "desolate" and "land" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.